Application for custody and access of a child born in 2012.
Both parents sought sole custody.
The applicant father, who had overcome a prescription drug addiction and held stable employment as a peacekeeper and band council member, sought custody citing concerns about the respondent mother's ongoing drug dependency and inadequate care.
The respondent mother, residing in a remote community and enrolled in a Suboxone treatment program, sought sole custody with extended access to the father.
The court awarded joint custody with day-to-day care and control to the father, finding that while both parents loved the child, the father's stability, financial resources, and drug-free status better served the child's interests, particularly given the child's upcoming school enrollment requiring consistency and continuity.